Tyson was livid. How in the world had this cargo gotten aboard without him knowing about it? And who thought it was even ok to carry this load? Did they really need Him to tell them that this was illegal, much less wrong?

Without even asking, he busted through the captain’s office door. “Just who in the Hell do you think you are shipping People?!” The door didn’t have to be open for his voice to be heard outside.

Marcus looked up from his work. He was stressed enough; he didn’t need some self-righteous government flunky screaming at him. He had an urge to really put Tyson in his place, but it wouldn’t be seemly of a captain. When he spoke though, not all of the heat was absent from his voice. “Why don’t you have a seat so we can discuss this?”

Tyson nearly exploded. “You want to talk? You belong in a prison for the rest of your life, and you want to sit there all calm-like and have a chat about it?! No way! I’m going to roast you on a spit by the time this is over!”

Now Marcus did raise his voice and a hint of venom oozed out as he put his hands on the desk and half stood in order to look at Tyson on a more even level. “I said sit Cecil! You don’t have all of the facts yet. If you want to threaten me, you had better do it with all of the information.”

Tyson didn’t really want to, but when Marcus got insistent, he was hard to argue with. He complied. “Alright Erickson, I’ll give you a chance to defend yourself but you better talk fast. If I don’t report this quickly, both of us will be in custody, and quite frankly, you are not worth my freedom.” Tyson put on a smug authoritative look to remind Marcus while he spoke of the power he possessed.

Marcus waved off the punk’s attitude. “I didn’t know that those tubes contained people. We got a government contract and I wasn’t told what was in them, just a wad of cash and an order to keep it quiet. Trust me, had I known that they were throwing me in on some scheme, I wouldn’t have done it.” Marcus calmed himself a bit before continuing. “Now before you go blabbing, thinking you are some big bad Federation hero, let me figure out what is going on. I promise, you will be the first person to know when I have answers.”

Tyson’s eyes narrowed. “So I am just supposed to sit back while you figure out how to cover up some ‘Government operation’? I don’t think so.You may be some big industry captain, but you can’t get away with this.”

Marcus sighed. “Give me forty-eight hours to figure this out. I have some connections I can talk to who might know what’s going on. If I can’t get an answer after that, then you can say something to your government cronies. And if you want to blab before then, I have an airlock with your name on it.”

“Did you just threaten a Federation Enforcement Officer?”

“No, I made him a promise and gave him the motivation to believe it. Forty-eight hours, Cecil.”

Tyson shook with anger, but again, couldn’t defy Marcus when the captain was in this kind of mood. “Alright. But if I find out you are involved in human smuggling, I’m taking your whole company down.”

Marcus deadpanned. “I’m terrified. Now get out so I can work on this.”

Marcus looked at the two employees in front of him. Both had proven that they were capable of getting work done, but he was about to lay something big on them. “Thanks for coming you two. I have a favor to ask of you both. I need info on these people, but I need to be here on the ship. I can’t get this myself. Ari, you are a very resourceful person. You prove that every time you pull through on getting whatever supplies we need for whatever reason. These cryo pods had to come from somewhere. If you can track down the manufacturer, you might be able to figure out who bought these ones. Get me that information.”

Marcus looked over to the Klingon standing next to Ari.” K’Roth, when I worked for Starfleet intelligence, I met a man who knew more about the underbelly of the Alpha quadrant powers than any single person has a right to know. He lives on Nimbus III. That’s the armpit of the galaxy. Every low life thug and every disgraced spy in the quadrant knows that they can find refuge there. A normal person can’t handle themselves there, but you know how to take care of yourself. I need you to go there and talk to him.” Marcus opens a drawer and pulls out an isolinear chip. “This chip is what I used to tell him that I needed to talk. Go to Lenara’s Bar off the main square in the central city. In the bathroom, there is a loose panel behind the door. Stick this chip in the slot you see behind it. Wait an hour. When a man orders a comet cocktail and sits down in the booth in the back of the bar, go sit down with him. He is your contact. Explain what is going on and get any information he has.” Marcus lifts a small lockbox from behind his desk and opens it. Inside, there are three bars of gold pressed latinum. “When he demands three bars of gold pressed latinum in payment, tell him you will give him one. Let him argue, and settle on two. Use the third to pay for your travel expenses and his drink. It’s professional curtesy.” Marcus pulls out another chip, this one vaguely key shaped. “I’m letting you take my personal corvette for this K’Roth. It had better come back looking as good as it does now or you will be the one waxing it.”

Marcus took a deep breath and looked at the two valuable members of his crew and people he had come to think of as friends even beyond their employee and employer relationship. “I know I’m asking you to do something that is above and beyond your contracts. Ordinarily I would do this kind of thing myself, but I’m stuck here. I trust you both, and I know you won’t let me down. Good luck. Dismissed.”

With thhe two other employees gone now, other matters could be dealt with. Marcus turned to the comm panel. He had been doing a lot of deliberation on the med bay’s guest, but he needed more information before he could make any sort of real decision. With a deep breath, he keyed the panel. “Marcus to Cat.” After the line was picked up, he went straight into it. “Hey Catrina. I need a status update on our guest.” He paused for a split second. “Specifically, I want to know how safe you think it is to revive him. I know it’s likely dangerous, but I need to know if he knows anything. He might be able to give us some clues on who to nail for this. Don’t do it yet, even if you can, but I’m exploring every avenue of intelligence I have right now.”

Catrina glared at the screen. “You’re joking me, right? First you tell me to keep this guy out, now you want to know if I can revive him?! Of course I can, why wouldn’t I be able to? But, without knowing who he is or even WHAT he is, why would we even consider the possibility?” She crossed her arms and paced a bit, then looked back at Marcus.

“IF we do this, Marcus, you know that he’s staying both in restraints and behind a forcefield, right? I don’t want someone like this running around the ship.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Reviving him would be easy enough. There is nothing strange, that I can see as of yet, about his body chemistry. Granted that might change once he is woken up. Have you gotten a hold of those Starfleet people that did this to us?”

Marcus sighed. He knew Cat could do it. Why had he doubted that? "Sorry I doubted you. And yes, I'm considering the possibility. No, I haven't gotten a hold of that admiral yet. I want to see what I can find out about these people first. Things such as who they are and why they were iced to begin with. I have a few avenues to pursue here, but asking the one that we already have defrosted is a possibility. I know this is an uncomfortable situation, but I need you to stick with me. That's all I can ask for now."

Cat groaned but knew that she had to do what he said, for the better of everything. “You know I will. I wouldn’t do anything else. Just…” She sighed. “Just let me know when it is that you want me to do this. I’m nervous about waking up someone who Starfleet froze. There must have been a purpose for it.” She cut the comm channel with Marcus and collapsed back into her chair before staring up at the ceiling.

“What has he gotten us into this time?”

Finally pulling herself up out of her chair, she went towards the hyposprays and made sure everything was ready, including one to knock the guy back out if something didn’t go right.

Ari sighed. The favor Marcus had asked was not impossible, nor was it immoral, but it certainly wasn't something she particularly happy about. The frozen people honestly creeped her out. Regardless of her personal feelings though, she would do as the captain had asked.

Ari quickly found herself next to the already opened pod and set to work unlocking its secrets. Soon enough she had the information she needed. "Huh... Universal Cryonics?" With this new information in hand, Ari trekked back to her office to make some calls.